Typically, semiconductor wafers are placed within pockets formed in an outer surface of a hollow polyhedral susceptors, also referred to herein as barrel-type susceptors. Various diameters and numbers of wafers are accommodated by the pockets in which the wafers rest. The substrates are in contact with the susceptor pockets on their rear sides and with the pockets' recesses in their lower extremities. Stress results typically from such contact, particularly in the area of the pockets' recesses, and such stress forms slip that tends to migrate from the wafers' peripheries into the useful, circuit-worthy regions thereof.